1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a woofer module, and more particularly, to a removable woofer module of a portable computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, multimedia technology becomes so popular that a user can interact with a computer system to efficiently access variety of desired audio data and image data. Therefore, how to make a portable computer providing the user with amazing audio effects has become a key concern for computer manufacturers. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of a first prior art portable computer 10. The portable computer 10 has a housing 12 and a plurality of speakers 14a, 14b, 14c. The speakers 14a, 14b respectively correspond to a left channel and a right channel for generating stereo sound. In addition, the speaker 14c is a woofer used to generate low-frequency signals. To make output signals generated by the speaker 14c to have lower frequencies, the portable computer 10 has to comprise a cavity for resonating the output signals generated from the speaker 14c. Only the existing spare space inside the interior of the portable computer 10 can be utilized to install the speaker 14c in conjunction with the required resonating cavity. In addition, the speaker 14c is fixed in the portable computer 10 at a predetermined location, that is, the speaker 14c is not designed to be a removable module. When the speaker is in unused state, the occupied space cannot be freed for other purposes.
Please refer to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 3. FIG. 2 is a diagram of a second prior art portable computer 20. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a power module 26 shown in FIG. 2. The portable computer 20 has a housing 22, which is also referred to as a first housing, two speakers 23a, 23b, two expansion slots 24a, 24b, a hard-disk drive 25, and a power module 26 (batteries for example). The expansion slots 24a, 24b are respectively used to install expansion devices such as the hard-disk drive 25 and the power module 26. Two speakers 23a, 23b respectively correspond to a left channel and a right channel for generating stereo sound. The power module 26 is installed in the expansion slot 24b and is removable from the expansion slot 24b. The power module 26 not only provides the portable computer 20 with a predetermined voltage used to power the portable computer 20, but also provides a function for outputting low-frequency signals. As shown in FIG. 3, the power module 26 includes a battery device 28 and a woofer 30. The battery device 28 is used to output the predetermined voltage, and the woofer 30 is used to output the low-frequency signal. There is a cavity located inside the housing of the power module 26 for the purpose of resonating the low-frequency signals generated from the woofer 30. Though the module design of woofer 30 couple with battery device 28 is efficient, but the power capacity provided by the battery device 28 is greatly reduced because of the additional woofer 30 in the power module 26. In other words, the battery life of the portable computer 20 is shortened due to the reduced power capacity. In addition, the cavity for resonating the signals is too narrow to make the signals have lower frequencies. It is noteworthy that the low-frequency signals outputted from the woofer 30 would generate noticeable vibration. The prior art portable computer 20 does not provide any devices to lessen or isolate the vibrations. When a hard-disk drive or an optical disk drive accesses the data, the data access operation is prone to be influenced by the vibrations causing the access to be corrupted or stopped. In addition, the vibrations make a disturbing noise while the user is using the portable computer.
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a removable woofer module with shock-absorbing ability to solve the above-mentioned problem.
According to the claimed invention, a portable computer comprises a first housing having an expansion slot and a woofer module installed in the expansion slot for generating a low-frequency signal. The woofer module is removable from the expansion slot, and the woofer module comprises a second housing, a speaker unit positioned in the second housing for generating the low-frequency signal, a predetermined room positioned in the second housing for resonating the low-frequency signal, and a bass reflex duct positioned in the second housing. The bass reflex duct is used to connect an output vent of the predetermined room and an output vent of the second housing so that the low-frequency signal is outputted from the output vent of the second housing.
The claimed invention not only provides the portable computer with low-frequency signals, but also protects the portable computer from being disturbed by the vibration caused by the low-frequency signals.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.